Human Rights Education competition: the importance of creativity

At the launch webinar for our human rights competition, Evadne Bygrave describes the Aims of the Steve Sinnott Foundation and the importance of the Human Rights Education creative competition for schools.




Evadne Bygrave: I'm an educator and an ambassador of the Steve Sinnott Foundation and one of the reasons that I'm proud to be part of the Foundation is that the Education For All mission resonates with my own educational values. It was Steve Sinnott’s vision that every child regardless of ability or economic status would have access to a good quality education.


The Foundation was set up after the death of Steve Sinnott who was a teacher in Liverpool and Preston, and also the general secretary for the National Union of Teachers. What makes this Foundation stand out from other educational charities is that it’s starting point always poses the question to its beneficiaries; “how can we help you?” Giving people ownership of the project and enabling them to make decisions that will benefit them rather than the Foundation is one of the Foundation’s main aims, and to collaborate with teachers and educators to develop projects that will achieve sustainable learning across the world, by reducing the beneficiaries dependency on the charity.


It engages in projects that opens a door of educational opportunities to some of the most disadvantaged learners around the world. Some of their projects include, for example, the Positive Period Programme. Delivered in Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Cuba and Haiti, it enables teachers and educators to help their students to stay in school by understanding the issues around periods and teaching students how to make reusable period pads, that they can make themselves, using local materials, they are affordable, sustainable, reusable, washable, long lasting, comfortable and very importantly economically friendly.


They have created Learning Resources Centres in Nepal, Haiti and The Gambia. They are all locally owned and managed. More recently they supported the Mother and Child learning centre in Jamaica which provides the much needed help with learning resources to young mothers and their children in readiness for school. The Life Long Learning webinar programme, which started during the pandemic, gives our partners and educators an opportunity to share their knowledge and skills across the globe. 


Human rights remain a barrier for many learners around the world today, so the Foundation is very enthusiastic to be launching this competition ‘The World I Want To Live In: Human Rights Education - Learning through Creating’ along with the NEU and the GTU. By focusing on creative learning, it opens up learning opportunities to all learners regardless of their ability, culture or language. They will develop an understanding of human rights and its importance on individuals and countries, from past and present. Using a range of creative resources; poetry, art, music, writing, sculpture and drama. 


We at the Foundation hope that this competition ‘The World I Want To Live In: Human Rights Education - Learning through Creating’ will engage and encourage young people to make their voices heard on human rights issues, while also supporting teachers in highlighting the issue through the educational resource we have developed.


To get involved, sign up now.

Evadne Bygrave • February 23, 2022

An Education Revolution

By Ann Beatty • April 6, 2025
This week while out and about in Hertfordshire and we visited the British Schools Museum. We discovered the first school opened by Joseph Lancaster, was known as the ‘Poor Childs Friend”, was in 1810. It was his lifelong mission that all children regardless of their circumstances, should benefit from an education. Apparently, Joseph heard a small girl say, “Oh that I could read!” and this inspired him to create a simple education system that eventually would benefit children across the world. Joseph was the tenth son of a poor man himself from South London. His aim was to offer free education for everyone. However, it would be 93 years before the U.K. government finally made education free for all. There are still many countries today where education is still not free to access and it is certainly not compulsory for primary and secondary age pupils. Joseph’s mission really resonates with that of the Foundation, to support access to education for all. We enjoyed our visit and appreciated the tour given by two of the Museum’s volunteers, Angela and Clare. They described some of the challenges faced in the early years of formal education and shared some of the rules that teachers and students had to abide by with us. 

Sparks Bristol

By Ann Beatty • April 4, 2025
Sparks Bristol is a collaborative community project initially envisioned by The Global Goals Centre, (GGC) more of which below. A few years ago, GGC took over an empty Marks and Spencer store and that’s how Sparks was born. Sparks is a department store with a difference, co-created by Global Goals Centre and Artspace Lifespace. On the ground floor is a huge range of shops, installations, events and more. Upstairs is a hub for local artists, it offers affordable studios as well as rehearsal and performance space. The Global Goals Centre is a Bristol-based educational charity inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals. (SDGs). GGC believe the SDG’s or Global Goals as they are sometimes known, can be reached, with imaginative solutions and widespread education and engagement. They work with partners to promote creative solutions and deliver ground breaking projects that work towards these ambitious goals. The Steve Sinnott Foundation supported the Global Goals Centre with seed funding when it first started over 5 years ago. This month we went to visit them to see how they are getting on and we were taken aback by the volume of work they have achieved since they started. It is amazing to see how though working together with other local community groups it has grown into the vibrant centre it is today. All of the creative projects they host are linked to the SDGs. They cover topics that tackle poverty, education, climate change, fashion recycling and upcycling, to name a few.

Spring is Here! Looking Ahead!

By Ann Beatty • March 28, 2025
Spring is definitely here, daffodils, blossom and crocuses are all basking in the bright sunshine. There is still a chill in the air in the shade but it's happening and all the seeds that were sown over the last few months are coming to fruition. At the Foundation, we have been planning the year ahead and our Positive Periods and Prevention of Gender Based Violence programmes got underway this weekend in Haiti and Ghana. These projects will have a long-lasting effect on the lives of the women and girls who take part: tackling the root causes of gender-based violence and enabling girls to attend school every day when they have their period, to feel safe at school and know how to take action when they are faced with violence. These are the first of many projects planned for the year ahead as we continue to work towards Education for All children everywhere.